Author: Badalian Vardan

GEORGIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY TO OPEN COMBAT TRAINING CENTER IN JAVAKHETI

April 9, 2015 10:56

Photo:

Yerevan /Mediamax/. Georgian Ministry of Defense will open Primary
Combat Training Center in Akhalkalaki this year.

Georgian Defense Minister Mindia Janelidze said this, Mediamax’s own
correspondent reports.

According to him, intensive construction works of the center are
underway.

Earlier, Russian military base employing locals was stationed in
Akhalkalaki.

Mindia Janelidze also said that in May 2015, Georgia will host
“unprecedented joint exercises with the U.S.”, but he abstained
from details.

It should be recalled that in March 2015, modern base of the police
special mission unit opened in Aspindza village in Samtskhe-Javakheti
region. “Earlier, there was no special mission unit of the Georgian
Ministry of Internal Affairs, while now citizens will feel more
protected”, stated the Georgian Prime Minister Irakly Gharibashvili
stated this at the opening.

Samtskhe-Javakheti is mainly populated with ethnic Armenians.

LOYALTY REASSURANCE: ARMENIA SAYS COMMITTED TO ALLIED RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA DESPITE RECENT COMPLAINTS

ANALYSIS | 09.04.15 | 10:32

By NAIRA HAYRUMYAN
ArmeniaNow correspondent

RELATED NEWS

Russian FM: No one wants escalation in Karabakh

The invitation to Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian to pay an official
visit to Moscow was considered by many experts as an expression of
concern of Russia over the estimations of Armenian-Russian relations
heard from Yerevan.

During the visit on April 7-8 Minister Nalbandian provided new
assurances about Armenia’s loyalty to friendship with Russia and to
the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union. President Serzh Sargsyan did
the same from Yerevan in an interview with Russia 24 TV. But Sargsyan
also made an important point. “With efforts of all sides, respect for
each other, including for the sovereignty of each other, the Eurasian
Economic Union will be beneficial to all,” he said on Monday.

This is not the first attempt by the Armenian president in the past
few months to remind Russia about the interests of Armenia. A few
weeks earlier he spoke about the inadmissibility of Russian arms sales
to Azerbaijan, saying that if the Armenian soldier on the border with
Azerbaijan realizes that he is being shot from weapons of Russian make,
then it affects the relations between the two countries.

Problems with the sovereignty were exposed after the tragic incident
in Gyumri on January 12 when soldier of the Russian military base in
Armenia Valery Permyakov allegedly massacred a seven-member Armenian
family. The Russian side still refuses to hand Permyakov over to
Armenian justice and he is likely to be tried by a Russian court.

Russian State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin, who visited Armenia
last week, said that the trial of the soldier will be held in the
territory of Armenia, but at the Russian base. This triggered a new
wave of accusations against Russia, which, in fact, disregards the
Constitution and sovereignty of Armenia, and suspicions that Moscow
is hiding something.

A scandal threatens another major area of Armenian-Russian relations
– natural gas supplies. The interim parliamentary commission on
gas issues established more than a year ago this week read out
its conclusions. The chairman of the committee, ruling Republican
Party of Armenia representative Vardan Ayvazyan said that nothing
“criminal” was found in the actions of the Russian Gazprom company,
the text of the conclusion, as well as the heated debate testified
to the opposite. In Armenia, there is even talk about the probability
of revising gas contracts with Russia.

Against this background, the personal relations of the presidents
of Armenia and Russia look more than strange. Sargsyan has long not
met in person with Putin – he does not attend meetings of Eurasian
Economic Union leaders, he does not make traditional visits to Moscow.

The issue of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s arrival in Yerevan
for the event marking the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide
has not been yet solved completely.

“In the near future there will be a visit of Russian President
Vladimir Putin to Armenia to participate in events connected with
the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide,” Armenian Foreign
Minister Nalbandian said at a joint press conference with his Russian
counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday.

“We also touched on the preparation of this visit. Our presidents
will have an opportunity to meet again in May already during the
events dedicated to the 70th anniversary of Victory [in the Great
Patriotic War] in Moscow,” he added.

Remarkably, no exact dates of the visits of Putin and Sargsyan have
been indicated yet. Some analysts do not exclude that Putin will
come to Armenia not on April 24, but on a different day. Accordingly,
it is not known whether Sargsyan will go to Moscow on May 8 for the
Summit of the Eurasian Union and whether he will attend the May 9
Victory Day parade in the Red Square in Moscow. In his interview with
Russia 24 Sargsyan ambiguously said that “of course we will attend
the Victory Day events.”

ZHOGHOVURD: ARMENIAN FM’S SHANGHAI TRIPS COSTS BUDGET $3.5M

09:25 * 09.04.15

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian’s recent visit to Shanghai
has cost the State Budget an equivalent of over $3,500, the paper
has learned.

But the trip would not have been so expensive had Nalbandian chosen
a flight by Econom Class, where the paper says the price for one air
ticket is slightly above $1,700 (850,000 Drams).

“So those people [top government officials] do all their best to day
by day impoverish Armenia and its population in return for a bonus
to travel exclusively by business class,” the paper says, commenting
on the report.

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION EVENTS IN NORWAY

15:21, 09 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

This year marks the 100th year since the Armenian Genocide by Ottoman
Turkey of 1915-1923. The Armenian Genocide, first genocide of the 20th
century, was planned and carried out by the “Young Turk” government
of Ottoman Turkey in 1915 (with subsidiaries to 1922-23). One and a
half million Armenians were killed on their ancestral lands.

The Armenian genocide is considered one of the three archetypes of
what constitutes a genocide by Norwegian and international historians.

Events and initiatives marking the centennial are being held around
the world throughout the year of 2015. Leaders from around the world
including presidents of France, Russia, Poland, Cyprus among others,
will gather in capital of Armenia, Yerevan, on April 24, to commemorate
this event.

Prime Minister Erna Solberg has not accepted the invitation to join the
commemorations in Yerevan. Neither is she willing to send a minister
or a state secretary.

The Armenian Cultural Association in Norway presents various
commemorative events marking the Armenian Genocide centennial in
Norway. Events on such a solid scale in Norway signal that the
country and the people of great explorer, scientist and humanist
-an outstanding advocate for the rights for the Armenian people –
Fridtjof Nansen, carry on his mission and demand that justice be
served, regardless of the controversial position of their government.

There is a wide variety of events planned in Oslo this year, as well
as events in Bergen and Stavanger. Organizations and individuals like
Norsk P.E.N., Jahn Otto Johansen,

Kirkelig KulturVerkstad, FN Sambandet (i Rogaland), the Armenian Church
Society and s at the Armenian Cultural Association among others have
been instrumental in keeping the memory of the 1.5 million martyred
Armenians alive in this country.

Over 12 successful events have already been organized in February and
March (some of them supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
Norway and the Fritt Ord Foundation) and there are over 10 different
cultural events planned in the month of April, presented below:

April 14 – Commemorative Concert by the acclaimed Armenian National
Philharmonc

Orchestra in the Royal Cathedral in Oslo

April 18 – To Survive and Thrive: Public Lecture about Calouste
Gulbenkian (Oil Entrepreneur and philanthropist)

Presented by Jose Rodrigues dos Santos (Portugal)

Cello concert – Martin Rasten (Norway)

April 19 – Historic Sunday: The Armenian Genocide

By Jahn Otto Johansen

April 21 – Norsk PEN’s Annual Meeting-Seminar: The Centennial of the
Armenian Genocide

Meeting with a prominent Turkish Human Rights Activist Ragip Zarakolu

April 22 – Meeting about the Armenian Genocide with Otto Johansen

April 24 – March for Recognition of the Armenian Genocide

Route: The march with torches begins at Youngstorget at 19.00, and
then moves through

Torggata, Stortorvet and up Karl Johan gate to Stortinget (the
Parliament).

April 24, STAVANGER – Armenian Liturgy for the 1.5 mln martyrs of
the Armenian Genocide at St. Svithun Catholic Church

April 24, BERGEN – Commemorating the Centennial of the Armenian
Genocide

Place: Near the Nansen Khachkar memorial outside Reksten Samlingene

April 25 – Armenian Liturgy

Place: Royal Cathedral, Oslo

GENOCIDE STUDIES INTERNATIONAL NEW ISSUE DEDICATED TO CENTENARY OF THE ARMENIAN, ASSYRIAN AND GREEK GENOCIDES

By MassisPost
Updated: April 8, 2015

TORONTO — The International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights
Studies (A Division of the Zoryan Institute) is pleased to announce
the release of Genocide Studies International Volume 9, number 1,
Spring 2015. The new issue is dedicated to the Ottoman Genocides of
the Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek peoples, marking the upcoming 100th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in April 2015.

This peer-reviewed journal was edited by Roger W. Smith. The new
issue includes six articles:

– “Introduction: Ottoman Genocides of Armenians, Assyrians, and
Greeks,” by Roger W. Smith

– “Contending Interpretations Concerning the Armenian Genocide:
Continuity and Conspiracy, Discontinuity and Cumulative
Radicalization,” by Robert Melson

– “The Genocide against the Ottoman Armenians: German Diplomatic
Correspondence and Eyewitness Testimonies,” by Tessa Hofmann

– “Academic Denial of the Armenian Genocide in American Scholarship:
Denialism as Manufactured Controversy,” by Marc. A. Mamigonian

– “The Complexity of the Assyrian Genocide,” by David Gaunt

– “The Genocide of the Greeks of the Ottoman Empire, 1913-1923:
A Comprehensive Overview,” by Vasileios Th. Meichanetsidis.

Prof. Smith’s article introduces the themes addressed in this special
issue of GSI and emphasizes how careful consideration of the Ottoman
genocides deepens our understanding of what genocide is and how it
can be enacted.

Prof. Melson’s article examines the relationship between the
Armenian massacres of 1894-1896 and on the process that initiated
the Genocide during and following WWI. One group of historians argue
that the Genocide was a continuation of the 1894-1896 massacres and
that its origins were rooted in Islam and Ottoman culture, whereas a
second group of scholars contend that the Genocide was qualitatively
different from the massacres and that it was driven by a policy of
radicalization during WWI. The article concludes with an evaluation
of some of the assumptions of the second view.

Hofmann’s article documents and analyses the genocide of the 1.5
million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during 1915 and 1916 and is
based mainly on the German diplomatic correspondence of the time,
which is preserved at the Political Archives of the German Foreign
Office, in Berlin. A special subsection of the article is dedicated
to the clandestine intelligence organization, TeÅ~_kilat-ı Mahsusa
(Special Organization), which planned, implemented and largely
conducted the destruction of the Armenians. Germany’s involvement in
the destruction of Ottoman Armenians, Aramaic-speaking Christians,
and Greek-Orthodox Christians is also examined.

Mamigonian’s article traces the early development of Armenian Genocide
denial and focuses on the more recent refinements and the penetration
of denial into mainstream American academia, posing as a legitimate
intellectual position within a historical debate.

Prof. Gaunt’s article focuses on another group targeted by the Ottoman
Empire for extermination: the Assyrians. The Assyrian Genocide involved
many non-Armenian Christian groups native to eastern Anatolia and
northern Mesopotamia. Among them were the Assyrian Church of the East,
the Chaldean Church, the Syriac Orthodox, and some smaller sects.

Meichanetsidis’ article refers to the 1913-1923 Genocide of the
Greeks of the Ottoman Empire and provides a comprehensive overview
of the overall genocidal process. The article aims at providing an
understanding of the Genocide and a sense of the Ottoman projects of
destruction that included Armenians, Assyrians/Arameans and Greeks in
an attempt at a total restricting of Ottoman society and the creation
of a Turkish Muslim national state.

Also included is a book review: The Young Turks’ Crime against
Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in the Ottoman
Empire by Taner AkÃ’”am, reviewed by Dr. Rouben Paul Adalian, Director
of the Armenian National Institute.

For information on subscribing to the journal,
or to purchase single copies, please visit

or contact the International Institute for Genocide and
Human Rights Studies (A Division of the Zoryan Institute) at
[email protected] or by telephone 416-250-9807.

LES CONCLUSIONS D’UNE ENQUETE SUR LES RELATIONS ENERGETIQUES ARMENO-RUSSES

Contestees au Parlement

Un depute pro-gouvernemental, qui a mene une enquete parlementaire
armenienne sur les relations energetiques controverses de l’Armenie
avec la Russie face a des allegations de l’opposition de fraude,
a presente ses conclusions a l’Assemblee nationale hier.

Le Parlement a debattu de ce rapport de Vartan Ayvazian, adopte par
une commission ad hoc presidee par lui.

La commission multipartite a ete forme il y a un an au milieu d’un
tolle de l’opposition contre un accord gazier signe au cours de
decembre 2013, lors de la visite du president russe Vladimir Poutine
en Armenie. En vertu de cette entente, le gouvernement armenien a
cede sa participation residuelle de 20 % des parts dans le reseau de
distribution de gaz a Gazprom a la Russie et a accorde aux geants du
gaz 30 ans de droits exclusifs sur le marche de l’energie armenienne.

Ces privilèges sans precedent accordes a Gazprom avaient suscite
un tolle auprès des principaux groupes d’opposition. Meme l’ancien
president Robert Kotcharian avait ajoute sa voix aux condamnations,
en disant que l’affaire pourrait tourner prendre en “otage” le secteur
de l’energie armenienne par les Russes.”

Le gouvernement et sa majorite parlementaire avaient nie ses
accusations, avant d’accepter une enquete parlementaire.

S’adressant au Parlement, Ayvazian a dit que l’enquete a conclu que
l’operation etait legale et economiquement benefique pour l’Armenie.

“Nous avons examine entre 5000 et 6000 documents,” a t-il dit.

Cependant, le rapport de la commission a ete rejete comme frauduleuse
par le Congrès national. Levon Zurabian a insiste pour dire que le
document est nul et non avenu parce qu’il n’a jamais ete formellement
adopte par le Parlement. Il a dit qu’Aram Manoukian du HAK et d’autres
membres de la commission representant la minorite d’opposition du
Parlement n’ont pas assiste aux reunions de la commission.

mercredi 8 avril 2015, Claire (c)armenews.com

BOULDER, COLORADO, TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

14:08, 08 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

The city of Boulder, Colorado, will recognize April 24 as a day of
remembrance of the Armenian Genocide,Daily Camera reports.

City Councilman George Karakehian opened the City Council meeting
Tuesday night by reading a resolution in support of the Day of
Remembrance, which will be recognized at the state level as well.

Karakehian, who is of Armenian descent, choked up slightly as he
noted that Hitler famously said, “Who, after all, speaks today of the
annihilation of the Armenians?” as he justified a policy of genocide
in Europe. Karakehian asked the people of Boulder to remember the
Armenians.

PRESS RELEASE
Date: April 7, 2015

ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY OF AMERICA
Contact: Taniel Koushakjian
Telephone: (202) 393-3434
Email: [email protected]
Web:

`ICONIC IMAGES OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE’ TO BE EXHIBITED AT THE NATIONAL
PRESS CLUB

WASHINGTON, DC – The Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly), in
cooperation with the Armenian National Institute (ANI) and the Armenian
Genocide Museum of America (AGMA), is pleased to announce that the `Iconic
Images of the Armenian Genocide’ exhibit will be on display at the National
Press Club on Wednesday, April 22nd from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM and on Friday,
April 24th from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM. Assembly and ANI staff will be on hand
to present and discuss the exhibition with guests.

The fourth in a series of digital exhibits released free of charge, `Iconic
Images of the Armenian Genocide’ brings together as a single collection key
images recording the brutal mistreatment of the Armenian population of the
Ottoman Empire and the utter destruction of their historic communities.
“The exhibit creates a panoramic view of the entire duration of the
Armenian Genocide,” stated ANI Director Dr. Rouben Adalian. “All facets of
the genocide that the photographic record allows, ranging from the
deportations, executions, massacres, murders, starvation, extermination and
destruction, are reconstructed panel by panel.”

Many invaluable pictures were destroyed during the war years and what
remain today are scattered across continents. In view of how much was lost,
these photographs are also survivors, many waiting for the time when they
would be identified and reconnected to the events to which they attest.
These scattered images are now gathered and organized into a narrative
exhibit that reconstructs many episodes of the Armenian Genocide. Together
they recreate a sense of the terror exercised by the Young Turk regime and
reveal the extent of the dispossession and decimation of the Armenian
people in their historic homeland.

“The exhibit,” stated Assembly Board of Trustees Co-Chair Van Z. Krikorian,
“was created to honor the exemplary figures in the United States diplomatic
service whose conscientious reporting remains a permanent testament to the
horrors of the Armenian Genocide, among them Jesse B. Jackson, US Consul in
Aleppo; Leslie A. Davis, US Consul in Harput; Oscar Heizer, US Consul in
Trebizond; George Horton, Consul-General in Smyrna; and in Constantinople,
Gabriel Bie Ravndal, Consul-General; Hoffman Philip, Charge d’Affaires;
Abraham I. Elkus, Ambassador; and Henry Morgenthau, Ambassador.”

The photographs were collected from numerous repositories, sources and
individuals, including the US National Archives, Library of Congress, Near
East Foundation, Oberlin College Archives, University of Minnesota Library,
California State University Fresno Armenian Studies Program, Republic of
Armenia National Archives, Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, AGBU
Nubarian Library, Armenian Assembly of America, Armenian National Institute
collections, Maurice Kelechian, and National Geographic photographer
Alexandra Avakian.

The exhibition is free and will be open to the public on Wednesday, April
22, 2015 from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM and on Friday, April 24, 2015 from 9:00 AM
to 11:00 AM in the First Amendment Lounge, National Press Club, 529 14th
Street NW, 13th Floor, Washington, DC 20045.

Established in 1972, the Armenian Assembly of America is the largest
Washington-based nationwide organization promoting public understanding and
awareness of Armenian issues. The Assembly is a non-partisan, 501(c)(3)
tax-exempt membership organization.

###

NR: # 2015-020

Available online at:

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT TO TRAVEL TO ITALY AND VATICAN CITY

YEREVAN, April 8. /ARKA/. This evening Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan is to pay an official visit to the Italian Republic and will
hold meetings with the country’s top officials, the press office of
the president reports.

the press release says.

In Italy, President Serzh Sargsyan is also to meet with the
director-general of one of international organizations – the UN Food
and Agriculture Organization.

On April 12, the Armenian President will visit Vatican City where
he will take part in a liturgy devoted to the Armenian Genocide
Centennial to be performed by His Holiness Pope Francis at Saint
Peter’s Basilica. –0—–

PRESIDENT SARGSYAN TO ATTEND ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MASS IN VATICAN

17:38, 08 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan will leave for Italy tonight, where
he will have meetings with high-ranking officials, President’s Press
Office reported.

President Sargsyan will visit the Vittoriano Museum of Rome to watch
the “Armenia: People of Ark” exhibition dedicated to the Armenian
Genocide centennial.

On April 11 the President will participate in the Mass to be celebrated
by His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All
Armenians, and Cardinal Sepe at St. Gregory the Illuminator Church of
Naples. As part of the ceremony the copy of one of the cross-stones
of Jugha will be unveiled in memory of the Armenian Genocide.

In Italy President Sargsyan is expected to meet with the Director
General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

On April 12 Serzh Sargsyan will visit Vatican, where he will
participate in the Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica Pope Francis will
celebrate to mark the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.